If any of you are really desperate to go see how big just about every famous and most of the good (there is a difference between being famous and good at guitar) guitarists hands were/are you seriously need to take a visit to the Hollywood Guitar Center/Rock Walk. My hands are precisely the same size as Steve's...

...Unfortunatly for me I can't play like him...but it's a nice thought

Big hands may seem like an advantage when playing guitar but it is really the creativity and experience of the musician that matters most. I'm only 5'6" tall with average size hands but I have been playing bass for over thirty years. I can hold an F note on the first fret of the low E string while holding the C note on the fifth fret of the G string on a full size bass. If you have a bass handy, give it a try but don't hurt yourself. I do not play guitar (much) because a guitar feels way too small to me. I often enjoy playing Steves melodies on the bass, with Hand On Heart being one of my favorites. I never think much about what my hands are doing when I play, I think of the music and my hands do what is neccessary. Try playing a melody with only one finger. That way you will not be focused on "what finger where" just the music. When you are %100 sure of where all the notes are for that piece then start using more fingers. You'll be suprised at how easy playing becomes when you are no longer "over guessing" what fingering to use.

jmchambers5 wrote:I used to be able to play a chord of all E's in standard tuning using only my left hand to fret notes. I know it's not technically a chord, because it's just one note, but it was freaking cool looking. the chord looked like this

e 0
b 5
g 9
d 2
a 7
e 0

Don't try this at home! Actually, try it at home, it'd be interesting to see if anyone else can do this and i'm just a chump for thinking i'm special.

J

You, sir, are a freak of nature, lol. I got it, but I'm fretting with my fingernails, heh.

well with me i think i'd need my fingers broke and reset...in the designated area's. i'll be forever playing the guitar but i doubt i'll be in the regions of fantastic..maybe i should stick to what i do best graphic design...and album cover art...but n
let it be said i don't try..cause i do...

I have very small hands.
My middle finger is only 7 centimeters (don't know what that is in inches) so some chords are impossible for me to play. Never thought about it until i read this so it have never been a problem for me.

SIZE DOESNT MATTER!!! at least i like to tell myself that. oh wait, FINGERS. riiiiight..... buckethead has some freakishly long hands and i think i do- at least compared to people around here. all i know is i can stretch from the 12th to the 24th at most. the notes arent too clear but i dont think i'd ever be doing that much stretching anyways

I don't think there's a thing that doesn't matter at all. Size does matter, too. With longer fingers you can do wider stretches and play stuff you can't play with small fingers. If you regard it that way, size does matter...a little bit
But if you want to write/play beautiful music, then of course it doesn't